Traders around the region were likelyhesitant ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting set to end on Thursday. Markets have been jumpy in recent months, awaiting the Fed's first interest rate hike in nine years. While most analysts don't expect that hike to come at this meeting, they'll be parsing the Fed's statement for cues on when it will move.

"You've also seen a lot of efficiencies created as oil has dropped within the fracking segment of the U.S. market, so a lot of the production that's going on in the U.S. really hasn't slowed down even though you have seen this material drop in oil price," Powell told CNBC.

However, he said that it was possible oil prices were bottoming, noting that he was "dabbling" in energy shares.

Amid the declines in resources plays, the S&P ASX 200 index ended down 0.2 percent, retracing some early losses after benign inflation data raised the possibility the Reserve Bank of Australia may cut interest rates at its meeting next week. Third-quarter consumer prices rose 0.3 percent, less than the Reuters forecast for a 0.5 percent rise. That decked the Australian dollar, which fell as low as $0.7116 after the data from around $0.7192 before the data.

Traders there are likely to be hesitant as they await the outcome of the Bank of Japan's meeting at the end of the week. Many analysts expect the central bank to introduce further stimulus, which is likely to boost asset prices.

"There is a strong case for more QE at the 30th October meeting; the economy is stagnating and the target measure of inflation is below zero," Oxford Economics said in a note Tuesday.

"We expect a 20 trillion yen lift to annual asset purchases, taking the rate to 100 trillion yen. With the BOJ already owning a third of the stock of Japan government bonds any extra buying may be concentrated in other assets, such as REITs or ETFs."

In Korea, the benchmark Kospi index ended off 0.1 percent. Bucking the trend, LG Chem jumped 5.0 percent after the Nikkei Asian Review reported that the company was in talks with Tesla to supply batteries for the U.S. company's electric cars. In Japan, Tesla's current supplier, Panasonic, shed 1.9 percent.

Around the region, many Apple suppliers were lower despite the technology giant reporting earnings that beat analysts' expectations, in part due to Chinese consumers' love affair with the iPhone. But Apple provided an outlook that disappointed and that sent its shares lower in U.S. trade.

The Nasdaq composite erased early gains to close down 0.1 percent as Apple slipped more than half a percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.2 percent, weighed by IBM's 4 percent fall after the firm disclosed the SEC is conducting an investigation into its accounting treatment of certain transactions. The S&P 500 closed 0.3 percent lower, weighed by energy stocks amid declines in oil.